Canada Has the Most Business-Friendly Tax Policy in the World

The recent announcement by US based Burger King to acquire Tim Horton’s and move its head offices to Canada, highlights the favourable tax policies in Canada.

According to a recent KPMG study, Canada is one of the most business-friendly countries in the world. KPMG examined the total tax costs of doing business in ten major economies including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Using the U.S. tax rate as a benchmark, the report found that Canada has the lowest overall tax costs, around 46.4% lower than those in the U.S.

The KPMG report weighed corporate income taxes, property taxes, capital taxes, sales taxes, miscellaneous and local business taxes in each country and found that the corporate tax rate in Canada is 13.5% lower than in the U.S. According to Burger King’s most recent 10-K, in 2013 the company’s effective tax rate was 27.5%, not much higher than the Canadian corporate tax rate of 26.5%. Burger King is run by a 33-year old alum of 3G Capital, a private equity firm which bought out Burger King in 2010 and took it public in 2012.